Players, Chapter Six: Rolling Doubles
"Players, Chapter Six: Rolling Doubles" is the 26th and final issue of the official Young Justice spin-off comic series and the sixth and final chapter of a six part story. It was released on February 20, 2013. Solicitation * The heroes make their last stand against Kylstar and Brainiac! * Metropolis is still in danger, but now the entire planet risks destruction! * Deadshot hits his target! Tagline: The Final Invasion! Synopsis Dick and his birthday guests play a game of spin the bottle, and when the bottle stops, it points straight at him. Egged on by remarks from the others, he gets up, and extends his hand to the girl who had spun it. The Collector of Worlds electrocutes Alpha Squad. Kylstar watches on as his orbs keep the heroes in check. All of a sudden, the orbs crash into each other, and Miss Martian enters the hall. Orb-One prepares a message from Kylstar. Blue Beetle and Sphere both fire at the Collector. The alien is surprised to see New Genesis life-tech on this planet, and muses on the irony of Blue Beetle's presence. But it will not affect his plans; he will continue preserving a portion of the planet. Bumblebee contacts Batgirl, informing her she's figured out a way to shut the field down. Batgirl, who is being helped up by Black Lightning and Jim Harper, orders her to proceed. She then asks if anyone's seen Match, but he is long gone. Orb-One translates Kylstar's message. The first leader is impressed with the heroes. All captives have been released, and Orb-One explains Kylstar's motives. After his world was destroyed, his people were captured. He abducted sentient weapons from across the universe to stop the slavers. Miss Martian doubts it, but one alien telepathically corroborates the story. However, Kylstar explains he is not affiliated with the Collector of Worlds, and to show his good intentions, offers to return those who want to to their own planet. To those who want to help him fight, he offers good treatment and glorious battle. Major Force, Black Adam, Blockbuster and Draaga agree. Captain Atom objects to Major Force's cooperation, but cannot convince him not to go. The rest is teleported away. Kylstar explains to those loyal to him that the slavers are too powerful, and they have to conquer the galaxy first. Major Force voices his approval of this plan. Alpha Squad attacks the Collector, but the alien puts up a forcefield. Just then, those who were on Kylstar's vessel are teleported in, as well as the Flash, Atom and Martian Manhunter, and Nightwing quickly fills them in on the situation. Lagoon Boy wastes no time, and blasts the robot to pieces with Bio-Ship's cannon. Superboy picks up the intact head of the robot and inquires about him. But the Collector is not finished; he notices Superboy's partial Kryptonian heritage, and shoots him in the face with a green beam. Sumaan Harjavti pushes his brother aside, blocking Deadshot's bullet, which entered his shoulder. On the rooftop, Deadshot seeks to escape, but a Shield-enraged Superboy confronts him. He lunges at him and throws a barrage of punches at the hitman, and Superman can only barely restrain him. Miss Martian watches her boyfriend's behavior, shocked. The Collector remarks Superboy's Kryptonian DNA is corrupted, but Superman steps in and blasts the head with his heat vision. The earthlings regroup, but dozens more coludroids of the Collector appear. He ponders how one Kryptonian could have survived, but cuts himself off when he notices something wrong with the probe embedded under Metropolis. The Collector warns the heroes that if the force field is shut down while the shrinking beam is still active, the planet will be destroyed. Nightwing advises him to shut it off, and he agrees. He is a collector of worlds, not a destroyer. Back under Metropolis, Bumblebee and Beast Boy have finally deactivated the probe, and the force field recedes. Plastic Man meets up with the heroes on the other side of the ditch. They're okay, but are, like everything that was inside the bubble, twenty percent smaller. Nightwing and Captain Atom have convinced the Collector he should not preserve Metropolis. The Collector begrudgingly agrees, noting the survival of one Kryptonian could mean the need to collect is not absolute. Miss Martian explains Superboy had been getting better, and learned to keep his anger in check, and this behavior was new. Superman carries Deadshot off to a hospital. Miss Martian is just glad Queen Bee did not get her revenge on Harjavti. In a pickup truck, Queen Bee explains to an enthralled Marie Logan that Rumaan Harjavti was never the target, his brother was. Now, he was a hero to his people, and in her thrall. He was not her revenge; Marie is. She convinces Marie that Garfield is waiting for her in the valley below. After exiting, Queen Bee tells her the straight route is the fastest way down. And it is. Marie plummets down a cliff. At Bibbo's Diner, Queen Bee has enthralled Noor Harjavti's bodyguard, while the henchmen keep Noor and Bibbo in check. Noor defies her captor, stating her death will not go unpunished. But Queen Bee has no plans to kill either of them; instead, she shows them two Kroloteans boarding lifelike robot suits of Noor and Bibbo. Beast Boy and Bumblebee check up on Noor. What appears to be Noor and Bibbo wave at them. The Collector's ship leaves. Captain Atom is glad it's over, but Nightwing has some questions about the dual invasion. Alien invasions have been intermittent and spaced far apart, but they had just encountered two aliens in quick order. He wonders if Earth has a flag on it, waving at aliens to come there. Superman regrets not asking the Collector if he collected anything from Krypton. Lagoon Boy wonders what happened to the villains that were with them. Mere feet away, Tuppence Terror asks if they really can't be seen or heard. Grodd explains that with his powers, he can do that, but he tells Tuppence, Tommy and Devastation they owe him now. Wonder Girl catches up with Blue Beetle, and asks him if he's changed his mind about joining. He's in, though his Scarab disagrees. Dick and Barbara, the person who spun the bottle, are alone in the closet. Dick tells her they don't have to do anything, but Barbara kisses him. Dick heads home to his place, and finds Barbara on the steps that lead to his door. She kisses him, prompting Dick to ask her why they're not a couple, even though they like each other. Barbara replies that it's his reputation as, Wally called it, "a dog". He wouldn't be ready for her. She showed up and kissed him because it was his birthday, and asks if he wants to spend a little time together. Title Under the rules of Monopoly, a player rolls two dice in order to move. If the dice have the same numbers, then the player has rolled doubles, and may take another turn and roll again. If he rolls doubles the third consecutive time, he does not move, and goes directly to jail. A player who is in jail can opt to pay the jail fee, or roll the dice. If he rolls a double, he gets out of jail free. If he fails to roll a double in this third turn, he is forced to pay the jail fee. The title may also refer to Dick Grayson's birthday game, with the rolling bottle creating a double—Dick and Barbara entered a closet together for a few minutes, and end up engaging in premarital shenanigans with each other. It may also refer to the Kroloteans' double replacement of Noor Harjavti and Bibbo Bibbowski. Finally, Queen Bee mentioned revenge and strategy twice: her murder of Marie Logan was a revenge move, while her abduction of Noor Harjavti was a strategic move. Characters |- | colspan="3" | Ali |- | colspan="3" | Artemis |- | colspan="3" | Atom |- | colspan="3" | Batgirl/Barbara Gordon |- | colspan="3" | Beast Boy |- | colspan="3" | Bibbo Bibbowski |- | colspan="3" | Black Adam |- | colspan="3" | Black Lightning |- | colspan="3" | Blockbuster |- | colspan="3" | Blue Beetle |- | colspan="3" | Bumblebee |- | colspan="3" | Captain Atom |- | colspan="3" | Captain Marvel |- | colspan="3" | Collector of Worlds |- | colspan="2" | Draaga | |- | colspan="3" | Flash |- | colspan="3" | Gorilla Grodd |- | colspan="3" | Kylstar |- | colspan="3" | Lagoon Boy |- | colspan="2" | Major Force | |- | colspan="3" | Marie Logan |- | colspan="3" | Martian Manhunter |- | colspan="3" | Miss Martian |- | colspan="3" | Nightwing/Dick Grayson |- | colspan="3" | Noor Harjavti |- | colspan="3" | Orb-One |- | colspan="3" | Plastic Man |- | colspan="3" | Queen Bee |- | colspan="3" | Rumaan Harjavti |- | colspan="3" | Scarab |- | colspan="2" | Sumaan Harjavti | |- | colspan="3" | Superboy |- | colspan="3" | Superman |- | colspan="3" | Tommy Terror |- | colspan="3" | Tuppence Terror |- | colspan="2" | Vartox | |- | colspan="3" | Wonder Girl |- | colspan="3" | Zatanna |- ! colspan="3" | Non-speaking roles |- | colspan="3" | Bibbo Bibbowski (robot suit) |- | colspan="3" | Bio-Ship |- | colspan="3" | Deadshot |- | colspan="3" | Devastation |- | colspan="3" | Jim Harper |- | colspan="3" | Two Kroloteans |- | colspan="3" | Mammoth |- | colspan="3" | Maxima |- | colspan="2" | Noor Harjavti (robot suit) | |- | colspan="3" | Sphere |- | colspan="3" | Stephanie Brown |- | colspan="3" | Wonder Woman |- Continuity * The events of this issue continue from the previous issue. * Miss Martian tells Superman that Superboy used to be angrier, referring to early episodes, such as "Welcome to Happy Harbor". * Martian Manhunter recollects two earlier alien invasions: the Appellaxians and Draaga, which were explained in "Salvage" and "Players, Chapter Two: Directly to Jail", respectively. * Superboy suspects Desaad's involvement; he had met the Apokoliptan in "Disordered". * Miss Martian enquires why they would want to arrest Gorilla Grodd; she encountered him in an apparent positive light in "Monkey Business". * The death of Marie Logan, which was referred to in "Earthlings", is shown. * On the last page (December 2, 2015), there is a missing person poster for Stephanie Brown, who was among other abductees in "Before the Dawn" (March 30, 2016). Trivia * Number 16: ** Marie Logan dies on January 16, at 16:16 UTC+2. The scene is depicted on page 16. ** Dick and Barbara kiss at 21:16 EST. ** Dick encounters Barbara at 00:16 EST. * Flash says that the Collector of Worlds called himself the "Brainiac of Izod". While "Brainiac" was his name in the mainstream comics, he hasn't used it in this continuity. Aside from being a subtle reference to the comics, this can actually be explained in-universe, as the Flash is mixing up two of the sobriquets that the Collector cited in "Players, Chapter Four: Do Not Pass Go": "The Brain of Colu" and "The Man'iac of Yod'". * The phrase Draaga utters, evidently to indicate his assent to Kylstar's offer, is "Vlash suh frag". This is Interlac, and was translated in "Happy New Year" as "Shut up or die". Although it appears to make no contextual sense at first glance, that was one of many translations and was done intentionally.Weisman, Greg (2013-02-22). Talk:Players, Chapter Six: Rolling Doubles. Young Justice Wiki. Retrieved 2013-02-22. * Queen Bee strokes Marie Logan and Ali's hair while enthralling them. In , this was the equivalent to kissing among gargoyles.Weisman, Greg (2004-11-06). FAQ XVII. GARGOYLE CULTURE. Ask Greg. Retrieved 2013-02-23. Gargoyles was created by Greg Weisman, who co-produced Young Justice and wrote this issue. and Marie Logan going for a kiss, rejected by DC Comics.]] ** At the Young Justice Panel at Gallifrey One 2014, Christopher Jones and Greg Weisman explained why this happened. Originally, this scene depicted Queen Bee and Marie going for a "non-sexual kiss", and the following scene showed Queen Bee actually kissing Ali. However, DC Comics rejected the former art, so Greg Weisman decided to change both scenes, showing Queen Bee stroking the hair of both characters instead. and Danica McKellar reading their lines as Queen Bee and Marie Logan.]] * Marina Sirtis and Danica McKellar reprised their roles as Queen Bee and Marie Logan in a fan-made motion comic, featuring pages 15 and 16 of this issue, to [[Thread:95028|promote the Young Justice '' companion comics]]. * When Queen Bee and reveals the Krolotean robot suits to Noor and Bibbo, Greg Weisman had originally intended to show "blank" suits adapt to match the people they were to replace. The sequence had to be left out due to lack of page space. * The issue concludes with the same caption used in the last : "Never The End...". Both issues were written by Weisman. Cultural references * The game played in Dick's birthday party is called "spin the bottle". It is a party game that involves some form of physical intimacy between the person who spun the bottle, and the person the bottle points to after it stops spinning. Questions Unanswered questions * Why did the Collector of Worlds call Blue Beetle's participation ironic? * Why did the Collector of Worlds think Earth was doomed? Quotes References External links * Young Justice Issue 25 at DCComics.com * Buy a digital copy at DC Entertainment Category:A to Z Category:Comic issues Category:Comic issues penciled by Christopher Jones Category:Comic issues written by Greg Weisman